Prepare and post a bill

Start a pre-bill

1. Open the matter's Bills tab and choose Pre-bills, or open Billing, Pre-bills.
2. Choose New pre-bill, then choose the matter and the last day of work to include.
3. The pre-bill gathers the matter's approved, chargeable time that has not been billed, its billable disbursements and any fees its billing arrangement adds.

A matter has one open pre-bill at a time.

Work on the lines

Each time line shows the fee earner, the hours, its standard value and what it bills. Use the line's menu to:

• Change billed value: bill it for more or less. The difference is recorded as a write-up or a write-off.
• Edit narrative: change the words the bill prints. The time entry keeps its own words.
• Leave in work in progress: keep it off this bill. A later pre-bill picks it up.
• Write off: the client is never charged for it, and the write-off is reported.
• Move to another matter: the time was recorded on the wrong matter.

Each change needs a reason, which is kept with the line. Disbursements can be left off and put back the same way.

Under a fixed fee, milestone or scale fee, the time is marked covered by the fee. The arrangement's fee is charged and the time is not charged again.

Work on many lines at once

On a desktop or tablet, tick the lines to change, or tick the box beside Time to take every line on the page. The buttons that act on what is ticked take the place of the list's own:

• Leave off the bill: keep them in work in progress for a later pre-bill.
• Put back: bill them again, at the value each carried or at its standard value where it was off the bill.
• Change value: bill each at its standard value changed by a percentage. Enter -10 to take a tenth off or 10 to add a tenth. A new percentage replaces an earlier one rather than adding to it, and 0 puts each line back at its standard value.
• Write off: the client is not charged for them and they cannot be billed later.

One reason covers the whole change and is kept on every line. Either every line changes or none does: if one cannot, for example time with no rate, the change is refused and says why, and nothing is changed.

To narrow the time first, use Filters beside Time: by fee earner, by the days worked, by task and by what has been decided for the line. With the whole page ticked, Select all reaches every line the filters match, up to 2,000 at once, not only the page in view. Time covered by the arrangement's fee is never changed this way.

Disbursements can be left off and put back together in the same way, filtered by what has been decided for them. One paid in another currency than the bill's cannot be put on it.

On a phone, change the lines one at a time from each line's menu.

How the bill prints

Bill settings sets how time is grouped (by phase, by fee earner or as one narrative you write), the bill date and the Note on the bill, which prints on the bill for the client. The totals panel shows fees, disbursements paid as the client's agent, other disbursements, each tax at its rate and the total, and updates as lines change.

Preview the bill, in the pre-bill's menu, opens the bill as a PDF in the file viewer, drawn exactly as posting would draw it and marked as a draft. It is not a tax invoice and is not sent to the client. Preview it as often as you like while the lines change.

What every bill must show is always printed. The remaining choices live in Settings, Billing settings, Bill layouts. The pre-bill's Layout fact links to the layout and says whether it came from the matter, client, matter type or firm default. Design what your bills show explains time detail, summaries, payment instructions and the remittance block.

The remittance block uses the bill's routed payment account and gives the bill number to quote, amount due and due date. If no account is routed for the office and currency, the preview explains why the block is absent.

Approve and post

1. Submit sends the pre-bill for approval. It cannot be changed while it waits.
2. An approver approves it or sends it back with a reason. A bill over the firm's threshold needs the responsible partner or the managing partner.
3. Post bill gives the bill its number, writes the journal and the tax, and locks the time and disbursements on it.

Posting is final. A posted bill is corrected only by a credit note.

If the firm uses GRA E-VAT, posting also queues fiscal submission in the background. Read Fiscalise bills with the GRA before sending a document whose fiscal standing is pending or failed.